Last night, Minutemen supporters gathered privately at the Women's Civic Club of Garden Grove (in O.C.) to hear a discussion lead by James Gilchrist, the founder of the Minutemen Project. About 300 protestors, charging that the Minutemen are a racist group, gathered outside to protest the meeting. When the Minutemen supporters tried to leave the event, at least two of their cars were attacked by dozens of protestors. The protestors hit the vehicles with placards and other objects until one of the drivers gunned his car to get away from the crowd. He was arrested, though I'm not sure what for yet. The driver of the second vehicle "injured" 3 people as he tried to inch through the crowd. The "injured protestors" were taken to a local hospital, but none had any serious injuries, even though the reporters made it sound like it in the opening sentence of the article.

Three people were injured and at least eight arrested Wednesday in Garden Grove after a motorist drove into a crowd of 300 demonstrators protesting a speech by the founder of the Minuteman Project, authorities said.

Quite a spin! It sounds like the motorist deliberately crashed his car into a group of protestors! That's not exactly what happened.

Once the second car hurt 3 protestors as it was trying to leave (which is bound to happen if you're swarming a moving vehicle!), the crowd erupted into violence and attacked the assembled police officers.

Garden Grove Police Lt. David Kivler said the crowd grew increasingly boisterous after the injuries.

He said protesters began throwing filled soda cans at the assembled Garden Grove, Anaheim and CHP officers. At least eight people were arrested on suspicion of felony assault, while others were booked for disturbing the peace.

Here's a statement from a witness, as written by the LA Times reporters:

PICKETING: Police and protesters face off outside the California Commission for Immigration Reform meeting in Garden Grove. Mark Avery, The Orange County Register

A witness, Eric Garcia, 22, of Anaheim said the evening turned ugly about 9 p.m. after the talk.

He said some protesters were in a driveway when someone in a car tried to leave and made contact with the group. "Then all hell broke loose," Garcia said. "People started throwing things, like rocks and bricks and stuff."

Notice how the reporters make it sound like the evening was just lovely up until that point, as if everyone were out on a stroll and just happened to be in the driveway when they were "contacted" or HIT by the drivers who were trying to leave.

Were the Minutemen supporters just supposed to just sit there while hundreds of howling illegal alien supporters banged away on their vehicles? What would you have done? Would you have stayed there or tried to leave? How would you have felt about the damage to your vehicle?

The tensions around this topic are deep and will inevitably erupt like they did in O.C.. I wonder how much more of this American citizens will put up with, and how much longer our political authorities will ignore it.

An event honoring an anti-illegal immigrant leader Wednesday night was marred by altercations between anti-immigration activists and protesters, resulting in an arrest when two demonstrators were hit by a slow-moving van.

The driver was Hal Netkin of Van Nuys, said Barbara Coe, chairwoman of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform.

Protesters were blocking a driveway when Netkin tried to drive through and knocked two demonstrators to the ground, Deputy Police Chief K.J. Raney said.

Yeah, that's slighty different than the first article that implied that the driver recklessly DROVE into the crowd!

Billy Hall, a member of Coe's group, said shortly afterward that his car window was broken by a protester. Hall said he filed a police report.

Links to two articles about the attack on the Minutemen. The first article in the LA Times is very biased and actually quite misleading (notice writers' bylines), the second story in the OC REgister is much less biased.

Hal Netkin told a story quite a bit different from the biased LA Times. He was interviewed on the radio this morning, and he said his car was surrounded by screaming protestors who were pounding on his car, even ripped off one of his windshield wipers, and nearby police watched but did nothing! So he tried to inch his vehicle closer to the police. He was arrested and put in the SAME jail cell with other protestors who were arrested!!! (At the end, he was not charged and was released.) Then, later, the police themselves were attacked by the pro-illegal alien protestors, and THAT'S when people got arrested for disturbing the peace. But not when regular American citizens were being attacked!

The LA Times reported that he DROVE his car into a crowd of 300!

By the way, did you all notice the bylines of the writers?

5
posted on 05/26/2005 10:59:11 AM PDT
by American Cabalist
(It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong)

The driver was Hal Netkin of Van Nuys, said Barbara Coe, chairwoman of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform.

The story was posted earlier, looks like it's getting more play. It still isn't very accurate.

In the previous post, we were told about a radio interview given by Mr. Netkin. His incident occured before the event, not after. He was driving into the parking lot, not leaving. And he moved only after asking for help from a half dozen police officers who were standing around watching his van get torn apart by the protesters.

The U.S. Representative for Garden Grove is none other than...(drum roll)...Loretta Sanchez. She is pro-illegal alien, and her view of this mess would go right along with the violent protesters. Her contact e-mail address is:

There is a Summit going on in Vegas this weekend: Unite to Fight Illegal Immigration. The MMP news is all over the place in Vegas. Here's an update from a Summit attendee:

I'm in Vegas for the summit.

The local news, CBS 8 is running the story about the MMP/Gilchrist event over and over again.

They are saying that a memember of the MMP ran over protestors and was arrested. They are showing a picture of him being take away by a police officer.

They ARE NOT mentioning that his car was surrounded and attacked. They ARE NOT mentioning that at least 8 protestors were arrested.

Then they point out that Gilchrist will be at the summit at the Cashman Center here in Vegas this weekend.

Protests are already planned. With this biased coverage we are in grave danger. Please please get on the phones to all local press and national press and tell them to balance this coverage with the other info!

19
posted on 05/26/2005 12:54:22 PM PDT
by American Cabalist
(It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong)

Regulator: "They may in fact be "illegal alien activists", but most of them are illegal aliens themselves."

Don't be so sure that it's just illegal aliens. Their events are usually organized by scummy "Americans" of dubious political leanings. Duane Roberts is a member of the Green Party and is a long-time activist. He posted one of the online notices about the meeting in Garden Grove (quoted below).

This is a web page from 1999. http://www.nettrash.com/users/socialjustice/. Roberts was (and still may be) a member of North Orange County Greens.org & they are somewhat affliated with the lovely Medea Benjamin (use Google if you've never heard of her).

This is Roberts' May 18th post about the Garden Grove meeting:

MinuteMan Found in Garden Grove

Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the fascist "Minuteman Project", will be speaking at the Garden Grove Women's Club on Wednesday, May 25th at 7:30 pm. Subject: Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist speaks in Garden Grove on Wednesday, May 25th

=== PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY ===

I'm sending this message out to make people aware of the fact that Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the fascist "Minuteman Project", will be speaking at the Garden Grove Women's Club on Wednesday, May 25th at 7:30 pm.

Gilchrist has been invited to speak there by the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (C.C.I.R.), one of the groups responsible for putting the racist Proposition 187 on the California ballot in 1994.

I live a couple of miles away from the Garden Grove Women's Club, and I know as a fact there is a fairly long public sidewalk that surrounds the building which houses it. It's also right next to a major street.

Although I'm not currently involved in organizing a counterdemonstration, I think one definitely needs to take place! We need to show our strong opposition to racism, fascism, and xenophobia!

I agree. The government will not protect us from this illegal invasion/occupation so don't expect patriotic Americans to sit idley by while they are attacked and assaulted in their own country. I have had it with GW Bush, and the cowardly GOP who control Washington. They could stop this shit dead in it's tracks TODAY if they really wanted to but they won't so expect the sleeping giant silent majority to solve the problem for them. I don't condone violence but that is where this is headed.

I've already counted the cost and know exactly where I stand and what I'll do about it.

Here's some GREAT insights about the attack on the MM from a 2nd Amendment buddy:

This type of incident will ONLY ESCALATE. They stopped the government in the 70's and have never changed their tactics since!! They tried it during the Repub convention in NY but it didn't work. However, their "call to arms" was getting greased again and now I think it's rolling.

Please understand, these incidents are the proof and we can NOT allow it to get up any more steam.

1. they've set up a "committee" of some sort to track "anti-Illegal" groups {small & large} and they're plans to meet.

2. these groups are being trained {and funded} by the old 60/70s groups who were FUNDED BY THE SOVIET COMMUNISTS - fact. These groups are being funded by the older groups extended arms.

3. EVERY SUCCESS that they have in both the "protest" area and the "media" will gain them people for the next protest. The snowball begins. It already has begun.

4. They'll create the violence and then turn it upon the people who are the focus of the protest. The cops will get in the middle of the confusion and the media will only "catch" the protesters side.

5. this will build in crescendo until Congress will ONLY LISTEN/SEE the protesters as the people to fear.

> we must have a PLAN to head them off at the pass every single time.

> we will probably need some Spanish speakers to infiltrate their groups to observe their plans and find out what they know.

> we'll need to try to gather all the small groups that are working on this issue to begin to pass their meeting plans to us so that we can help them cover their backsides. Only strength in numbers will stop this.

23
posted on 05/26/2005 1:41:48 PM PDT
by American Cabalist
(It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong)

It's ironic that everyone was concerned about the Minutemen being VIOLENT toward illegals. It's exactly the other way around!

This is the second time in as many weeks that law abiding Americans have been attacked in their own country simply for exercising their rights to assemble and their right to petition the government for redress of their grievances (namely that the government enforce its own laws against illegal immigration). It is really getting old. The illegals apparently have the right to assault Americans with impunity because they are just good hearted people trying to better their lives.

27
posted on 05/26/2005 2:15:31 PM PDT
by jackbenimble
(Import the third world, become the third world)

He said protesters began throwing filled soda cans at the assembled Garden Grove, Anaheim and CHP officers. At least eight people were arrested on suspicion of felony assault, while others were booked for disturbing the peace.

Things are totally out of control and it's only going to get worse. We have to put a stop to this now. I'm very angry, and I'm getting worse every day.

This is OUR country and yet THEY are telling US what to do? IF we don't stop it NOW we are going to live to regret it. These people are a lawless people and they think it's alright to force issues to the way they want them to be. Once they gain amnesty, they will put Mexicans in elections all over the country, and they will stick together to elect that person. Even if they have to be violent to make it happen. We are going to become an extension of Mexico.

28
posted on 05/26/2005 2:28:49 PM PDT
by NRA2BFree
(We've been sold out by spineless, gutless TRAITORS again!!!! They made a deal with the devil...)

There should be a law that will prohibit protests for those who have engaged at least once for these unlawful vandilization and harms against others, including the whole group. These protests by liberals, socialists, and anarchists have gone too far.

This is what one congressman from Florida thinks about illegals and what to do with them:

"My sense is that you have to find a way to create an incentive to become taxpayers, to be contributing members of society in an open and legal way," said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, a Bartow Republican with a largely agricultural district.

He wants to give them amnesty. A Republican too, who would have figured.

McCain disavows radio host who insulted Obama (no insults, just facts, but McCain DID insult Cunningham, who was supporting him.)

Republican John McCain quickly denounced the comments of a radio talk show host who while warming up a campaign crowd referred repeatedly to Barack Hussein Obama and called the Democratic presidential candidate a hack, Chicago-style politician.

Now we have a hack, Chicago-style Daley politician who is picturing himself as change. When he gets done with you, all youre going to have in your pocket is change, Cunningham said as the audience laughed.

The time will come, Cunningham added, when the liberal-leaning media will peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama and tell the truth about his relationship with indicted fundraiser Antoin Tony Rezko and how Obama got sweetheart deals in Chicago.

McCain wasnt on stage or, he says, in the building when Cunningham made the comments, but he quickly distanced himself from the radio talk show host after finishing his speech. McCain spoke to a couple hundred people at Memorial Hall in downtown Cincinnati.

I apologize for it, the Arizona senator told reporters, addressing the issue before they had a chance to ask about Cunninghams comments.

I did not know about these remarks, but I take responsibility for them. I repudiate them, he said. My entire campaign I have treated Senator Obama and Senator (Hillary Rodham) Clinton with respect. I will continue to do that throughout this campaign.

McCain called both Democrats honorable Americans and said, I want to dissociate myself with any disparaging remarks that may have been said about them.

Asked whether the use of Obamas middle name  the same as former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein  is proper,

McCain said: No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is totally inappropriate.

McCain said he didnt know who allowed Cunningham to speak but said he was sure it was in coordination with his campaign. He said he didnt hear the comments and has never met Cunningham, but I will certainly make sure that nothing like that happens again.

Later, on his radio show, Cunningham expressed disappointment with McCains apology and said he would endorse Clinton as a result.

Did John McCain repudiate me? When he didnt hear the remarks at all? He just threw me under the bus to the national media, Cunningham said on local radio station WLW.

Cunningham also disputed McCains assertion that the two had never met.[snip]Feb. 27, 2008

41
posted on 03/26/2010 1:20:27 PM PDT
by AuntB
(WE are NOT a nation of immigrants! We're a nation of Americans! http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/)

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.